Help crowdfund scientific research!

The SciFund challenge runs from November 1 through December 15. Essentially, it's an experiment by a group of scientists who think that they might be able to use crowdfunding to fuel their research. Forty-nine different projects, in a wide variety of disciplines, have signed on to the challenge.

You can browse the projects, decide which ones you'd like to help support, and make a donation. As a bonus, many of the projects are offering nice little gifts for crowdfunders. For instance, if you donate $75 to help researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst study the biology and physics of duck sex, you'll earn a pass code to access a regularly updated research blog, a collection of duck postcards, a "Duck Force!" mug, and a USB flash drive loaded with videos of explosive duck ejaculations that the scientists filmed for their research. (Naturally, this is one of the projects that have currently raised the most money.)

(Hi! #SciFund cofounder here! Excited to see this posted!) I’ll let you in on the secret #SciFund Agenda – better links between scientists and society – particularly for academic scientists! We’ve got a project blog at http://scifund.wordpress.com where participants are posting about what it means to participate in this project for them and for the future of science. Hope you guys enjoy – the videos in particular are just a wonderful collection of passionate scientists communicating about their work!

Hello all. Please check out my project, “Depression – An Illness of the Whole Body.” I am preparing to collaborate with a researcher in Russia and need funds for equipment. There are also cool photos on my website. Thanks! http://rockethub.com/projects/3799-depression-an-illness-of-the-whole-body